Thursday, June 1, 2006

More "Da Vinci" Words

The local newspaper asked me to add to the millions of words already wasted on "The Da Vinci Code". Here is what I wrote:


The da Vinci “Phenomenon”

Keith Bates

“What is truth?” This question, ironically asked by Pontius Pilate while condemning Jesus to death by crucifixion, lies at the heart of the “da Vinci” phenomenon.

Either the movie, like the book, was inspiring and exciting or it was badly scripted and 2 hours too long. There doesn't seem to be too much middle ground.

Christian leaders, particularly in the Catholic community, have denounced it as being heretical, and some cinemas have even refused to show the movie because of the faith convictions of the owners.

Not a bad result for what is, after all, a work of fiction.

The problem is, though, that there are enough claims about the truth in “The Da Vinci Code” to make people believe that it is a non-fiction book.

The heart of the story is a claim that has popped up from time to time over the centuries that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children- a story that the church has tried to keep secret, but now the truth is out!

Well it's not a new story at all. I seem to remember back in the 70's that the rock musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” had a sub-plot alluding to an affair between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Stories like this have circulated since about the 4th Century.

You can believe the Dan Brown version of history or you can take a look at the facts.

The versions of Jesus' life that the church believes in are found in the New Testament. Many, many stories were written about Jesus in the first few centuries of the christian era. But only four of these were accepted by the church as being truthful and accurate. They are what we now call the four gospels- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

What made these four special? The early christians looked for some characteristics that made the works authoritative. Firstly, they had to be written by someone who saw the events (or, in the case of Luke, was close to someone who was an eyewitness.) In other words they are written by people close to Jesus, who saw what He did and heard what He said.

Interestingly, scholars now believe that the gospels were all written in their present form before about 90 A.D.- that is within 60 years of Jesus' death and resurrection.

A second test was that they agreed with the already existing scriptures, that is the Old Testament. Many religious writings were rejected from being scripture because they said things that contradicted the teachings about God found in the Old Testament.

Another quality of the gospels that we have in the New Testament is that they have what one scholar called “the ring of truth.” In other words, when you read them with an open mind, they just sound exactly like what might have happened if God became a person and came to earth in Israel at that particular time of history.

A pragmatic test of the truth of the gospels is the changes they have on a person's life. I first read these stories in their entirety at the age of 18. I was totally changed by the experience of reading these inspired accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. Millions of other people around the world share a similar testimony.

In the end there is no conspiracy. You can theorise about what may have happened. But as Jesus himself said “The truth will set you free.” Countless people have been set free from poverty and slavery, from the scars of rejection and abuse, from addiction to drugs and all kinds of wickedness, by the simple story of the gospels.

In a few years' time Dan Brown and “The Da Vinci Code” will be all but forgotten, except when brought up in trivia quizzes. We'll all be getting excited about the next big thing.

But in a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, people will still be reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to find the truth at the heart of the universe.

If you've never read the New Testament accounts of the life of Jesus and his followers, go to the church of your choice and ask for a copy. I'm sure that any of the churches will be glad to give you one.

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